Financial reasons, proximity and family support, more practical child-rearing and a lower crime rate are some of the reasons why the Raič family from Dublin returned to Mostar, joining a kind of trend in which more and more families decide to return after several years of living in the West, and their children enroll in local schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As husband and father Robert Raič pointed out in an interview with Fena, several factors influenced the family’s return to Mostar, although making that decision was probably more difficult than going to Ireland five years ago.
“My wife Kristina and I set a deadline for making a decision about returning or staying before the start of our older daughter’s school, so that we would not transfer her from one school system to another, linguistically different. A year ago, our second daughter was born, and she certainly “made it easier” to make the decision to return,” said Raič.
Financial security and better conditions for raising children
He emphasized that the desire to return was always present, but that since they have children, their own desires are always at the bottom of the list of priorities. The financial factor played a big role in making the decision.
As he explained, a large part of the family budget in Ireland was spent on renting a larger apartment and kindergarten, which are among the most expensive in Europe, while they recently managed to buy an apartment in Mostar, which would have taken them a long time in Ireland.
“In our opinion, our area is safer and more practical for raising children. Family and friends also told us that the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina has improved significantly in many aspects compared to the previous period. The support of family and friends was one of the decisive factors for the return, as well as the fact that our older daughter was sad every time we returned to Dublin after the annual vacation,” added Robert.
When returning, a certain amount of time was needed for adjustment, especially for the older daughter due to the transition to another language area. However, as Raič pointed out, she adapted very quickly because she is bilingual.
His wife, Kristina, is just starting to look for a job, given that her younger daughter has turned one and will enroll her in nursery school. Raič expressed his belief that the organization of family obligations will be simpler than it was in Ireland.
Since his employer does not allow full-time remote work, Robert will remain working in Dublin for an even shorter period, where he has been working as a data analyst for three years. He will use this period to complete the renovation and furnishing of the apartment in Mostar, and at the same time he is looking for a suitable job in Herzegovina.
Comparing life in Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Raič points out that life in Bosnia and Herzegovina is safer for them due to the proximity of family and friends, the resolved housing issue, lower crime rates and a society that is always ready to help.
“Children are very happy in Mostar. The older daughter likes both kindergarten and school, she attends training sessions and has many more opportunities to spend time with children in her free time than in Ireland, where it was mostly kindergarten and birthday parties,” he explained.
Busy life and expensive everyday life
On the other hand, the Raič family will not miss the Irish climate and food, but also the generally busy lifestyle and the strong influence of materialism.
“Some things that we considered banal in Bosnia and Herzegovina, we started to greatly appreciate, such as, for example, easier planning of socializing, sun, coffee, sea, rivers, swimming pools, mountains… Also, we will not miss the “dangubljeno” in transport or the busy lifestyle. Also, we never liked the materialism that prevails there. Everything is somehow measured in terms of money and profit, there is almost no sentimentality, which is not the case here,” he said.
However, there are also things they will miss, such as the sense of privacy they had in Ireland. According to him, they will also miss the convenience of travel because the Dublin airport is located quite close to the center of the city where they lived, which allowed them to visit many places with affordable flight prices.
The Raič family also has a list of things they would like BiH to take over from the Irish system.
“First and foremost, this means a more functional administration and far less unnecessary bureaucracy. In Ireland, we were able to handle most obligations online. I would also add better business opportunities, greater respect from employers toward workers, increased transparency within institutions, and the fact that almost everything is paid for by card,” stated Raič.
They saw the Irish as friendly, sociable and communicative people, but one of the things they will certainly not miss is the large number of homeless people on the streets of Dublin.
“It is a devastating picture for one of the richest European countries and a consequence of a serious housing crisis,” he said.
Raič would advise families who are considering a change of environment to think carefully about all the possibilities and weigh what is best for their children. He believes that each family situation should be looked at separately because there is no universal solution that would suit everyone, but he believes that with a good plan and will, everything can be achieved.
“One should not idealize life in Bosnia and Herzegovina or turn a blind eye to problems, but one should not underestimate the possibility that a good life can be built here,” says Robert, who believes that no departure or return should be considered a failure because each brings a great and useful experience that should be the foundation for the future.
Eight students from abroad enrolled in the school in Mostar
On the other hand, the return to BiH and Mostar represents a challenge both for the returnees themselves and for the education system, which to a certain extent needs to be adapted to children returning from abroad, especially those who face a language barrier.
Anđelko Rogić, headmaster of the Bartolo Kašić Elementary School in Rodoč near Mostar, confirmed for Fena that in the last two years, that school has seen an increase in the enrollment of students who previously attended classes abroad.
This year and last year, eight students enrolled in our school from abroad, and one family with three children returned from Australia. It may not sound like a big number, but it’s obvious that there is a trend back, which in the case of our school started last year. As far as I know, in the schools of the West Herzegovina Canton, these numbers are even higher – said Rogić.
He added that in Bartolo Kašić Primary School, no significant difficulties were recorded in the adaptation of returnee students to the educational system in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The children solve it very quickly, while there is a certain concern among the parents, primarily due to the language barrier, which is less for some and more pronounced for others – said Rogić.
As an example, he mentioned the students who returned from Australia, who initially had a little more difficulty with language skills.
For example, the returning students from Australia initially had a bit more difficulty with language skills, but the adjustment passed quickly. The students master the language very quickly and in fact one could not talk about any problems in that sense – he explained.
He emphasized that the school does not have a special program for returning students because, in his opinion, there is no need for it. As he pointed out, children adapt relatively quickly to a different system.
A certain adjustment is also needed for the teaching staff, although it is less pronounced than for the students themselves.
Each teacher individually was ordered to pay attention to these children, to help them if they need help and to show a certain flexibility in their approach. However, we really didn’t have any parents who came later and said: “My child has problems, one way or another” – concluded Rogić, Fena writes.
